While February is a time of love, it doesn’t always mean we see the happy side of that love. There are many tricky and complex feelings surrounding Valentine’s Day for many, and I felt that a story about love from a different perspective would be much appreciated by readers sick of hearing about Valentine’s Day. Saki Kawashiro’s The Ex-Boyfriend’s Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee caught my eye, and as soon as I read the blurb, I knew it would be the perfect read for some soulful healing on the significance of food in relationships.

After being dumped by her boyfriend, Momoko finds herself very drunk at a small cafe. Momoko shares the story of her ex-boyfriend with the Manager of the café and the other customers who happened to be there. As she tells her story, she goes into the kitchen of the café and cooks her ex-boyfriend’s favourite dish, butter chicken curry.  Together, they eat the dish, and Momoko begins to feel better. Much better. The owner of the café loves the curry and Momoko’s story, and they decide to hold a weekly Ex-Boyfriend’s Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee meeting at the café. Momoko begins to work at the café, and every Friday night at 10 pm, anybody with a bitter memory of a relationship and a dish associated with it comes to the café, prepares the dish, shares the story, and together they eat the dish. Tears are shed, food is eaten, regrets and memories are devoured, and thoughts of revenge dissolve. Together, the diners purge the sadness and negativity. The pain of the relationship is dead and buried forever. Part confessional, part group therapy, part recovery, part cookbook. 

Just like many healing novels set in Japan, South Korea, and elsewhere, The Ex-Boyfriend’s Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee has a small cafe setting, which serves as a focal point for the vulnerability and shedding of histories for these individuals. Not only that, but it also houses our close-knit crew who provide the love and kindness needed to conduct these recipe funerals, to hear the stories and say the perfect words to set the recipient on their way in better spirits. I may be partial to this kind of healing story, given the food mentioned, but this one really stuck out to me. I have noticed how important food is in different cultures, and the fact that we get to experience these recipes for ourselves makes it all the more pleasurable and heartfelt. These recipes aren’t complicated, but they mean something, and I know their simplicity means that others will be able to relate to their own special meals.

In terms of the writing, I felt that the characters were so authentic and vividly human, making for stories that felt all too real, cutting to the bone and pulling out the rawest of emotion. I won’t spoil the stories too much, but the variety of love and emotion experienced truly touched me, and there were more than a few moments where I felt that something special was being immortalised on paper. Saki Kawashiro’s narrative style feels so real and lush, placing the reader right there in the room with these characters. The way she describes things, from the relationships that brought these people to the cafe to the natural world around them, makes the story feel tangible and solid. What’s more, the recipes bring that tangible aspect a step further, allowing you to indulge in the same foods that bring these emotions to the surface.

I really enjoyed The Ex-Boyfriend’s Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee, and I need to give these recipes a try. From the ‘My Ex-Boyfriend’s Favorite Butter Chicken Curry’ to ‘The Man Magnet’s Osechi’, these recipes have so much heart and meaning in every ingredient and instruction. If you are looking for a great healing story with comfort, confrontation, and cooking, this is the one for you.